Field
The present disclosure relates generally to telecommunications, and specifically to multi-channel medium access control protocol(s).
Background
The deployment of wireless local area networks (WLANs) in the home, the office, and various public facilities is commonplace today. Such networks typically employ a wireless access point (AP) that connects a number of wireless stations (STAs) in a specific locality (e.g., home, office, public facility, etc.) to another network, such as the Internet or the like. A set of STAs can communicate with each other through a common AP in what is referred to as a basic service set (BSS). Nearby BSSs may have overlapping coverage areas and such BSSs may be referred to as overlapping BSSs or OBSSs.
For some applications, the latency of existing WLANs may be too high. For example, industrial applications involving sensors and/or robotic controls may have a need to transmit control data with very low latency. Existing medium or media access control (MAC) protocols, however, may be optimized to maximize throughput at the expense of latency. Accordingly, control data, which may be relatively small in size, may be delayed by buffering, overhead, and other characteristics of existing MAC protocols. Further, some low-latency applications may incorporate numerous wireless stations. Existing MAC protocols may permit collisions between transmissions between different stations. As more stations are added, the number of collisions increases and results in greater latency. Accordingly, it may be desirable to provide a WLAN that supports reliable low-latency applications for numerous wireless stations over multiple channels.